St Anne's, Soho

24 September 1940

By Anna Maria Ruggiero

Two high explosive bombs fell on St Anne’s Church W1 on 24 September 1940 at around 11.38pm. St Anne’s, an Anglican church built between Wardour and Dean Streets, consecrated in 1686 and possessor of an imposing clock tower and steeple built in 1803, suffered severe fire and structural damage. The largest part of St Anne’s burnt to the ground, although the tower survived and today still overlooks its gardens and Wardour Street. Three casualties were reported. Damage was also caused to adjoining Shaftesbury Avenue and the Queen’s Theatre, at the corner of Wardour Street. City of Westminster message forms noted that the first ambulances arrived at 11.41pm; the last arrived at 6.41am on 25 September. City of Westminster records reveal that fire broke out again at around 1.38am, requiring the return of the Fire Brigade.

At 9.05pm on 7 October 1940, St Anne’s was hit for a second time, this time by incendiaries. No casualties were reported but fire destroyed what was left of the church. A small portion of St Anne’s Dean Street façade survived further damage in the heavy night raid of 10-11 May 1941, but this was eventually demolished.

On the night of 24 February 1944, during the 'Little Blitz', bombs fell again in Soho, damaging Wardour and Old Compton Streets and a temporary wall enclosing the St Anne's bombsite. One witness recorded the sight of tattered dresses lying in the church yard, blown there from a nearby second-hand clothing shop.

St Anne’s was rededicated in 1991 as a Church and community centre.

The contemporary writer James Pope-Hennessy described the shell of St Anne’s as “the most melancholy and so the loveliest of all the air-raid ruins”.

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